Ensuing Crazyness
by lalalamarieme
Summary: Berry, we're not in Kansas anymore." Even though they never were, they just spent one summer, becoming friends...
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did, Mark Salling wouldn't even know what a shirt was. Haha.**

**A/N: Yay! A sequel to a story that isn't even done yet. Reviews are love!**

Somehow Claudia had convinced Rachel to eat breakfast with her. Claudia really amazed Rachel with her quirky ideas. They were each going to go to a restaurant that morning, Rachel in Lima and Claudia in Riverton, and text each other while they ate.

Claudia was extremely funny, even through her text messages. As Rachel sat alone in her tiny little booth, she couldn't have felt happier. Even though Noah completely ignored her, at least one friendship from her wonderful summer had stayed alive.

She laughed as she read the tiny screen in her hand, but it quickly died when she heard his voice.

"What's so funny, Berry?"

His figure loomed above hers. She swallowed nervously and set her phone on the table. "Nothing." She said quietly.

"No, really. Tell me." He said.

The sincere curiosity in Noah's eyes reminded her, momentarily, of blistering hot afternoons laying in the sun and chilly nights around campfires.

"I'm eating breakfast with a friend."

Confusion blurred his features. "You're all alone, Berry."

"We are texting back and forth, because Claudia is in Riverton while I am here in Lima." She replied, not thinking of the possible consequences of her words.

"You're still talking to Claudia?" He asked.

"Yes, Noah. She was my friend. She _is_ my friend. We're friends." It amazed her sometimes the way that Noah could almost make her speechless, the way he made her grasp desperately for words.

Noah only creased his brow in frustration and walked away to the table where she noticed that Quinn was sitting as well. Rachel quickly surveyed the restaurant looking for anyone else who could possibly harass her as she ate. Seeing no one, she returned to her meal and her phone.

Later, when she told Claudia about her encounter, she would feel a strange stirring sensation in her chest and she would blush. Claudia would laugh, a laugh that was contagious even over the phone, and say "Don't worry about it. Noah doesn't really know who he is yet."

Rachel could only sigh in response, wish Claudia goodnight, and remember dozens of afternoons in Claudia's living room, playing board games, when it seemed as though Noah knew exactly who he was.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did Mark Salling wouldn't even know what a shirt was. Haha.**

**A/N: This chapter mentions underage drinking. Please, don't be offended by the content. Also, this is technically a sequel, so if you haven't read it's predecessor, please do. It's called Crazyness Ensues and it's totally awesome. Reviews are love!**

The first time he hits her with a slushie was completely by accident. He even apologised afterwards and everything.

He just wasn't expecting to see her, that's all. Well, he knew he would see her, that was obvious, they go to the same school, stupid. He just wasn't used to seeing her. Rachel Berry didn't look anything he remembered.

Although the tiny skirts were a definite plus, as were the knee socks. The sweater set is what surprised him. He knew she liked to show off her arms. He actually kind of missed her tanned and defined limbs in the two weeks that he hadn't seen her. She was hot, okay. It wasn't his fault that her personality was so grating that people left out that particular fact about her.

There he was walking down the hallway with a grape slushie in his hand, surveying the fresh meat and noting the differences the summer had made to his classmates, when he saw her.

Her hair was different, she might have cut a little bit shorter. Her legs were ridiculously long for such a tiny person and her sweater covered too much skin. He stopped about a foot away from her, staring.

"Berry—" He started, but Karofsky bumped into him as he passed by and Noah's arm flew out.

The slushie landed perfectly on her face. He stood in shock as the Cheerios started to giggle. He tried to look at her and tell her he was sorry, but she only squeezed her eyes shut tighter.

People were slapping him on the back and congratulating him, but he could watch in horror as Rachel walked down the hallway and slipped into a bathroom.

Disgusted with himself he tossed the empty cup in a garbage can and waited outside of the bathroom until Rachel emerged.

She peeked her head out first. She ducked back inside when she saw him standing across the hall.

&&&

She didn't know why he did it. She knew they weren't best friends, but she had no idea Noah Puckerman hated her so much.

She heard a knock on the door.

"I'm sorry, Berry. It was an accident. Karofsky ran into me and it just happened."

She remembered nights in the cool grass of Claudia's lawn, drinking and dancing and playing silly games, where it seemed like they were friends.

"Claud would kill me if she found out about this. Don't hate me, okay?"

He remembered her face from across the campfire flames, talking and joking and cooking, where he thought he might be friends with her.

"I liked the way you dressed before, by the way. I guess I'll go now." He finished and slapped his palm against the cold metal of the door (she jumped on the other side) before he walked to the nurse's office for his afternoon nap.

She peeked out once more and when she didn't see him there she walked cautiously down the hall to her class.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**A/N: This is a very short chapter, I'm sorry. But I am kind of in the mood to keep things sweet and short and simple. As always, reviews are love of the purest form. Thank you, you wonderful reader you! You make my day so much brighter!**

Noah missed the game, maybe it was a weakness, but he missed it anyways. He made the right choice. He knew that. Even if he did miss the game, he would never be forced to choose in Glee. He hated that a little bit. It was easier to leave Wyoming in Wyoming if he didn't have any options.

Rachel hated the way he ignored her as she stepped onto the bleachers.

"Do you miss it?" she asked.

"Hell no." He replied too quickly.

She was surprised by the softness and vulnerability in his response to her confession.

She couldn't tell him that she did like him. Even if he was kind of a jerk. She could only tell him what he needed to hear. Rachel saw the determined set of his of his shoulders as he talked about his best friend and his best friend's girlfriend.

She told him the truth. She wanted it too much. She wanted to forget him; she had some stupid, girlish notion that Finn could make Noah disappear. She wanted to ask him why he had chosen Quinn, she wanted to beg. Instead she offered her friendship.

He shrugged her tiny hand from his shoulder, both pleased and angered by the sensation of her body on his.

"We weren't friends to begin with." he bit back and stalked away.

"Yes." She said, mostly to the wind. "We were."

He heard the words carry on the breeze and he almost turned to her and told that, no, they weren't. They were never even close, but he would be lying.

He couldn't lie to her. She was like Claudia in so many ways. They could always tell when he was lying.

Instead he just froze, halfway down the steps, and whispered back. "We were, but that was there, and this is here."

He didn't wait for a reply. He didn't need to. Rachel sat silently on the cold bleachers and shed a single, lonely, tear.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**A/N: I cried when I wrote this, so beware.**

Noah couldn't hear what Rachel and Quinn were saying to each other, but he hoped that it wasn't going to break either of them more than _he_ already had.

Rachel noticed Noah approaching and stood from the small bench. Noah and Quinn needed each other now, and she couldn't get in the way of that. They froze for a small moment when they passed each other in the wide hallway.

_I never wanted this. _He tried to tell her.

_I know you only wanted to protect her and give her the things that she needed, things she thinks that you can't give her._

_I'm sorry._

_Why couldn't it have been me?_

_Why hadn't it been you?_

_She needs you._

_She needs me._

_You can give her what she needs. You know you can._

_I know I messed up. I'm going to fix it._

_I forgive you._

The words that neither of them could say aloud were spoken between their eyes before they continued to their destinations. They hoped that the other understood. It was more than that, though. It was the confession of their own thoughts to themselves that made the moment stick in their minds.

When Quinn rejected him again, it seemed that it stung a little less than the first time.

He called Claudia that night. He told her everything. She cried. It killed him inside, but he knew that was doing the right thing.

"Do you love her?" She asked.

"No. Yes. I don't know."

"Ok." she replied weakly.

"Do you hate me?" he asked. He didn't know which answer would be worse, because he was fairly certain that if she did, he really would die, and if she didn't, she should. He deserved it.

"I think you're a fucking idiot."

"I'm going to make this right, Claudia."

"I know you are, because I will kill you if you don't."

He cried when he hung up with her. He was drowning. He knew it. When the tears dried on his face, he went downstairs to ask the only person he was certain could teach him how to swim.

"Ma, I need you help."


	5. Chapter 5

Without him. Rachel thinks that is the must true statement of her young life. She didn't think that it would so lonely to not have him by her side. When she goes to school in the morning she see's him there and wishes that it could be like before, when he was there.

She sees him in the morning running past her house. It must be her imagination when he slows down right as he reaches her house. It's also then that she realises that he's not the only one who is alone.

He's with out someone too.

She feels childish when she think of him. She isn't as important to him as he is to her. He's missing Claudia, his only connection to Noah. She had foolishly hoped that she might become one too, but that stopped the moment that the grape slush had hit her eyes. Thankfully it was her favorite flavor she wore the first day.

After her Glee audition she saw the awful comment Quinn and her Cheerios had left, tears threatening as she scrolled through them. It became too much as she read the first comment on her video.

_Hello, my beautiful lady! I'm so glad to see your angelic face and hear your pristine voice. I miss you much lady. When you come back this way you can give a concert to us poor heathens who miss you so. -Love, Claudia._

Sobs racked her body as she clicked link after link and saw similar comments from Claudia and everyone she had met in Wyoming.

_Yeah! You go girl! You sing that song, you. -Squishy_

_Oh, if only we could be blessed to hear you voice in person, can't wait to see you again! -Savanna_

_Hi Rachel! You're so wonderful and pretty. I sure do miss you a whole lot. -Ted_

It went on for pages. Entire conversations between them, about her, within minutes of each other. When a Cheerio posted a nasty comment they would insult.

The most heart-wrenching part was when Noah left her a private message simply saying that he had seen it.


End file.
